Dave Niehaus And Jack Zduriencik On Griffey's Retirement

by Jeff Sullivan on Jun 2, 2010 5:27 PM PDT in Seattle Mariners Regular News

Some hastily and poorly transcribed statements from their appearances on 710:

Dave

It's a sad day and a happy day because he's had such a fabulous career.

You could feel this day coming, and you dreaded it.

I do know we would not be sitting here at Safeco Field were it not for Ken Griffey Jr. and his arrival on the scene...Ken Griffey Jr. made Seattle baseball, he really did.

I'm going to miss Ken, just his persona in the clubhouse. He lit up the clubhouse. It'll be a different clubhouse. It's a sad day. But I think a happy day for the Griffey family, because daddy's coming home.

There will definitely be a relationship [between Griffey and the Mariners]. This is a relationship that will live as long as Griffey and the organization are alive...This is his home, not the Cincinnati Reds.

[On whether it's been hard to watch] Yeah, it really has been. It has been. Because you know it was like watching a great diva die, losing her voice. Because you knew what he had, what he still wanted to do. Really didn't get that much of a chance to do it this year.

...but there would be stretches where he would come out here in batting practice and have what you would call Warning Track Power. There were never days when he would have WTP 10-15 years ago. And you could see that fastballs - 95, 96mph fastballs - were going right by him, and he tried to cheat.

Jack

I didn't try to write down full sentences, but Z says that he just found out about Griffey's retirement about an hour and a half ago, after meeting with Griffey's agent and Chuck Armstrong. Says it was all Junior's call, and everyone's saddened by it. As far as a continued relationship is concerned, "we'll see as we move forward...this just happened...I'm sure Ken needs some space, some breathing room."

And finally: "I was always amazed at the response that guy would get when he stuck his head out of the dugout."

Zduriencik implied that Griffey's replacement will come up from Tacoma, but he rather obviously will not be coming up tonight.

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Jack Z only found out about the decision earlier today?

That part does surprise me a little. I was thinking it was something that maybe had been discussed for some time now.

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by qrsouther on Jun 2, 2010 5:30 PM PDT reply actions

Thanks Junior

Right now I'm dreaming of Carl Crawford. Maybe next year...(or this year at the trade deadline)...

by SeaKoala on Jun 2, 2010 5:31 PM PDT reply actions

This team can literally do nothing right.

...and now I'm here

by CapSea on Jun 2, 2010 5:32 PM PDT reply actions

"Griffey Was Ours And We'll Always Have Him."

...and now I'm here

by CapSea on Jun 2, 2010 5:35 PM PDT reply actions

Except for when he played for Cincinnati.

And Chicago.

by Eyebrows on Jun 2, 2010 6:04 PM PDT up reply actions

They never had him.

They had pale imitations of him.

Don't worry; I'm a writer.

by harkening on Jun 2, 2010 6:27 PM PDT up reply actions

Thank you for transcribing this, Jeff. I would have never heard of what Niehaus said any other way.

I can't resist clicking "Rec" when I see a post with four [of them] already.

by thehemogoblin on Jun 2, 2010 5:38 PM PDT reply actions

As much as I wanted him to retire, now I feel oddly sad.

I wish he’d let the M’s have a proper send off game; maybe delay leaving until Friday or something and announce he’d be starting that game to let the fans give him a proper sendoff. And heck, had he done it that way and the game wasn’t on the line, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the opposing pitcher would have given him a couple fat ones down the middle late in the game, just to give him a shot at going out with a bang.

I realize the M’s will probably try to have a “send off” game like that sometime this year, but now he must do it as a non-player, which won’t be the same.

by TIFO on Jun 2, 2010 5:48 PM PDT reply actions